Notes from Ohio: Grounds Crew

This election cycle Barack Obama and the Democrats decided that they would engage their own ground game, for real this time.

The victor on November 4th will owe much of his success to the door to door, voice to voice network that has pushed message, familiarity and imperative on the door steps, hallways and front lawns all over America.

In 2000 and 2004 George W. Bush won the ground war and from there the election in large part because of the expertise of former direct mailer and issue marketer Karl Rove. Rove's strategy was based on compiling data on the Republican base, formulating which issues would unify these people, and then reaching out to them in their homes.

This election cycle Barack Obama and the Democrats decided that they would engage their own ground game for real this time. Thanks to a long primary season it was all systems go for the general, and now just 21 days away from the election these troops are in motion and in sync.

Here's a glimpse of what that looks like here in Ohio right.

The Office

There are 74 regional and town offices listed on the campaign's website, with many smaller offices not listed that focus on certain neighborhoods.

Most of these offices are spartan and improvised, occupying former beauty salons or retail stores with off white walls and gray pile carpeting. Typical to an operation both temporary and thrifty by nature.

The exteriors of these store fronts are without fail plastered with posters of the candidate's likeness and campaign logo, and in the case of McCain/Palin, air force font.

Walk inside the office and you are immediately surrounded by an aesthetic similar to a teenager's bedroom, all of it idolatry and icon worship. More posters and campaign symbols, many of them handmade, are taped wantonly on any available surface.

In the case of one office outside of Columbus, volunteers have handwritten, personal notes on why they support Obama. These are displayed prominently as a way to personalize what can seem like a back room telemarketing mill. And in fact there is a back room where people are on the phone asking strangers to come and make calls or walk around neighborhoods to canvas.

There is a table with snacks, juice and catered food waiting to be eaten or thrown away.

Field operatives tend to be in their 20's. Many have moved from out of state over 7 months ago to set up the office and get the organization in place. The local volunteers are diverse in age, class and race. There is generally a buoyant mood of purpose and optimism among these folks. Anecdotes of convincing a voter to volunteer or being told an inspiring story by someone on the phone buffers against the hang ups and hostility on the other end of the line.

The Canvas

Canvassing at this point is about two things, information gathering and persuasion. A canvasser can provide helpful general voting information to a resident, but time is short and resources need to be focused on the candidate.

The canvasser is armed with a clipboard, a pen and a walk sheet. A walk sheet is a list of names and corresponding addresses with the voter's political leaning jotted below their name. The walk sheet is accompanied by a google map print out of the target neighborhood. Teams of at least two walkers take the evens and odds sides of the street respectively.

Party or candidate lawn signs reveal commitment to vote as well as affiliation, but these houses are not necessarily ignore, volunteers need to be recruited, early voting explained. Connect with the base.

Here are two scenarios I have encountered so far.

Scenario 1, most common.

“Good afternoon, My name is _. I am volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign. Do you plan on supporting Senator Obama this November 4th ?

“Great! Did you know that you can early vote?"

"You did already? Excellent! Would you like to volunteer at our local field office, either making phone calls or going to door to door?”

“No? There are several other options..."

“Okay, thanks for your support.”

Scenario 2, less common.

Good afternoon, my name is _. I am a volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign. Do you plan on supporting Senator Obama this November 4th ?

“Okay, so you’re undecided then?”

“What issues are the most important to you for this election?”

“Yeah, a lot of people also agree that the economy and Iraq are critical.”

“Did you know that….”

“Yes, there have been a lot of commercials and mailers.”

“Well, actually their positions are starkly different in regards to Iraq, and the econo…”

“I agree, the last eight years have been a disaster.

“You’re right. We do need a change. And I believe that change can only come with Barack Obama. He..."

"Well you know that McCain has voted nearly 95% with George Bush."

"Okay then, so you're still not sure. Do you have questions about Senator Obama that might help you make a decision?

"No? None at all?"

"You are going to wait to decide until you get the polling station?”

“Thank you for your time sir. Have a good afternoon.”

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More to come on the canvassing front from outside of Columbus.

Heartland Battleground

Genoa Park sits by the confluence Olentangy and Sciota rivers facing downtown Columbus, Ohio. It was 10 am, a perfectly sunny fall morning and the park buzzed with volunteers and the advance team of the Obama Campaign.

The crowds were to arrive soon and the volunteers were being briefed by Obama staffers in crisp and well rehearsed talking points on how to process people and to encourage as many of them as possible to join upcoming local events.

I was one of these volunteers and not the only one from out-of-state. I met a Brooklyn contingent and an older couple from California.

My job was to work the line of people that stretched over the bridge and up and into the city streets. Thousands of people waited to see Senator Barack Obama speak that afternoon. The day was getting hot, quick.

My job entailed handing out tickets and providing supporters with a pen to include themselves in the volunteering efforts. I directed them to the early voting polling station across the street. I also improvised my own voter outreach pitch, imploring them to speak to their friends about Obama.

I passed by a diverse multitude people in that line, most of them from Columbus, and some who drove up from other counties or from Kentucky.

Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village was the last place I heard Obama speak in person. The crowd to no surprise was young, and thoroughly downtown New York.

To now meet the aged Kentucky women all with the same perm look out at crowds with excitement and a little hesitance, reinforced the draw and strength that Obama's message has outside of my New Yorker/urban/blogisto/ circle.

We volunteers were the last to go through the "mags" (Secret Security's magnetic security gates) and needed to weave through the crowd to hear the opening acts of Governor Ted Strickland, Senator Sherrod Brown and Columbus mayor Michael Coleman. Their buzzword when referring to Senator McCain was"erratic".

Secret Service perched above us with binoculars and the temperature rose into the 80's. Mayor Coleman spoke about early voting obstruction by a Sheriff in Greene Co, Ohio. He closed his speech with a rousing "Hope beats fear!"

The crowd stirred and now properly tanning in the blazing sun, erupted when Barack Obama jumped to the stage. I must confess after watching him on loop in short clips on MSNBC that I yelled, "Look there is he is", as if confirming a celebrity I doubted actually existed.

Obama began to speak and after the preceding politicians' crowd pumping, he seemed subdued. The crowd in the back began to yell at him to speak up. In a wonderful exchange lacking all reverence-the possible future President of the United States softly sparred with the crowd telling them if they quieted down, maybe they could hear him. They did and he went ahead and talked about his tax policy.

Aware of the recent spat of 'taxocrat' characterizing by the McCain camp, Obama hit his refrain on job creation and the support of small businesses through tax cuts for all earners under $250,000. "Raise your hand if you make more than $250,000". Amid the sea of hands, I heard a woman say, "Yeah I make $200,000. Working at Dairy Queen."

He tied policy with some of his unifying lines like, "Destiny is not written for us, but by us." He would then return to economic security pointing back at the city and declaring the need to reopen that factory instead of sending jobs abroad. In fact there was not a shuttered old mill across the but instead the Nationwide Insurance Company's glass tower. Close enough these days. Obama brought back home by recounting a meeting with a restaurant owner in southern Ohio who said he was a registered Republican. Obama said he thanked him for the pie and then asked, "So how's business?"

He turned his speech towards McCain and mentioned the Arizona senator's new plan about buying up all the at risk or defaulted mortgages. Obama proclaimed the ill character of the poorly advised top down design and it received the expected boos. He continued his critique of the senator by speaking bluntly about the slander and thinly veiled racist messaging coming from McCain circles. "Stoking anger". Greeted with equal disapproval the senator picked up the energy to rally momentum for the upcoming 25 more days; starting with telling people to go vote early across the street.

From tiptoes to outstretched camera phones and handhelds, the crowd craned out to capture the senator as he thanked all and asked God to bless these United States of America.

And then on cue the stage flooded with Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed and Delivered".

Not quite yet, but judging from the thousands today- we are on our way.

"That One"

As Chris Matthew's opened up the 12am hour it seemed as if he was just getting warmed up. Meanwhile, CNN pressed play on the debate re-run feed, this time with the dial graphic.

Here's what most of cable and blogtown has agreed on:

Obama wins two ways in tonight's town hall debate.

First victory, his message and delivery: Obama was confident, calm and commanding. Strongest in the beginning on the economy and health care.

Second victory, McCain at his best just seemed to be catching up; at worst, aggressive , non-compelling and patronizing. He ended strongly on his history of service and petition (plea) for a chance to do so as president.

The refrain from Politico's Roger Simon and many more. "He loses by Not Winning." (Now go thank Yogi Berra for that phrasing).

Here's what was completely absent from this debate: education and wedge issues and personal character attacks.

Since most of the questions were citizen generated, curated by 'back from retirement Brett Farve' - Tom Brokaw, the main concerns of American's to no surprise were the economy, the economy, the economy, energy, health care, foreign policy, and what they don't know and how they will learn it.

Polls and this debate should make Obama supporters feel confident, but they should not become too comfortable.

Despite McCain's unwillingness on T.V to accuse Obama of consorting with terrorists or being un-American as his campaign has done quite insidiously, does not mean that his sewer campaign will cease tomorrow.

The focus of it, identity: we are like you, he is not. Such ugliness will be executed by Governor Palin, a woman who makes everyone feel O.K to distrust stuff.

Lodge Porch is heading to Ohio on Thursday and will be filing posts from that battleground state.

Stay tuned on Friday as I will be at Senator Obama's rally in Columbus.

Sen. Chuck Hagel at the New Yorker Festival

"The most important election since 1933," the ranking Republican from Nebraska declared when asked about the meaning of November 4th.

The New Yorker Festival showcases luminaries with important things to say, and sometimes it is a U.S senator doing the talking . This Saturday Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for that magazine facilitated a conversation with Senator Chuck Hagel, a man with important things to say.

The senator is retiring from the senate at the end of this term and does so after working as a ranking member on three committees situated at the heart of the current crises in America today: foreign relations, banking and intelligence.

On the campaign and candidates:

Lizza baited the senator for an endorsement early on in the conversation and was not rewarded overtly, but instead solicited an impassioned proclamation on the imperatives and possibilities that will follow the upcoming election

"Success and accomplishment (of the next president) will be seen by his judgment and who he will surround himself with." The senator throughout the evening articulated the damaged caused by the myopia of the current administration, crippled by dogma and inflexibility.

Hagel stated that he is friends with both McCain and Obama and to publicly endorse either one would be to entwine himself into the fray of denouncement and attack.

Good listener and Omaha as decider

Hagel has been a strident critic of the war and it's handling. The senator broke away starkly from his party's support on what he called a "bunker mentality" towards intelligence and diplomacy. After Bush was re-elected he told the president personally that Bush "does not know what's going on out there".

Hagel reminded listeners that he was the first to encourage diplomatic outreach to Iran. Cerebral diplomacy is a hallmark of Hagel as it is with Obama's foreign policy platform. The Nebraskan senator and Democratic nominee have spent a great deal of time together traveling abroad and was on the the nominee's shortlist as a VP. Hagel traveled to Iraq with Obama for that well documented information gathering tour hosted by Gen. Patraeus this summer.

Among various insights Hagel offered about Obama, was " good listener". Obama he said was one of the few junior senators to sit through all senior committee member's questions until his turn. A rare show of interest and attention, Hagel said.

Lizza pushed Hagel on the bit of breaking campaign news coming out of the Obama camp. Staffers had moved into Omaha to go after that district's electoral vote (Nebraska and Maine are not winner take all and assign votes based on district). The Nebraska senator said with pride that maybe Omaha will decide the next president rather than the supreme court.

In reference to Senator McCain, Hagel seemed to miss the McCain of old. The candidate we see day to day now has needed to move way right in order to gain the support of the Christian right and extreme conservative base.

In terms of cabinet, McCain has defined less who will help him guide his decisions, particularly foreign policy. He regards Palin a "stretch" to be qualified as president.

"Elections are more than winning, they are about self-correction", Hagel waxed about the campaign's 'change' theme. He emphasized the need for post-partisanship in the oval office to bring the country back together. "Politics are at an all time low".

Iraq and the War on Terror:

Hagel has been prolific with his views on the Iraq and Afghan wars. Hagel has maintained that the war on terror has never been in Iraq but in the autonomous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, an area he characterizes as a safe haven for the training, plotting and accumulation of resources for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. His outrage on the mismanagement of the Afghan front was recently vindicated by General David McKiernan's plea for more resources in that country.

"We're going backwards in Afghanistan" he says, continuing, "if we are not willing to support that effort, we should pull out".

Corn not Poppy

Hagel envisions a plan that goes beyond a military build up and more towards cutting off the funding for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. A progressive scheme he proposed would be to buy up the entire poppy crop, which he accounts for 90% of the heroin trade, destroy it and then replace the cultivation with food staples and associated subsidies.

He maintained that further work needs to be done regarding the supply lines of financial support from Hezebollah and Hamas via Iran. When pushed by an audience member on how that was developing, he replied that it was complicated and that Treasury was working on that process.

When asked about Iraq, Hagel responded that in the end it will "work out", but that it in the end it may be the rise of another "strongman" that will bring the country under control. He reinforced the need for Iraqis to be accountable for their future, that it is not our incumbent responsibility.

Independent Run and Beyond

Lizza asked the senator about his brief flirtation with an independent candidacy match-up with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He joked that it was clear which one them would have funded the race, but that in the end they both believed there was no room for that ticket with Clinton and Obama running at the time.

He referenced the summit in Oklahoma City earlier this year that focused on the "partisan paralysis" of Washington. Unfortunately any independent thought which came out of those meetings was quickly snuffed out by the momentum and party coalescence of the primary races.

For the New Yorker audience that night, Hagel's clear and pragmatic intelligence was both disarming and reassuring; an effect best administered by a straight talking Republican from Nebraska.

In this era of untethered spin and incessant messaging from both parties, Chuck Hagel's departure from the senate deprives that body of an anchor of principle and honest leadership. We will hope his frustration of these past eight years will not prevent him from returning to D.C in a new capacity. There is a lot repair work needed across the river at the Pentagon.

Source to Plate: Smoking Landlocked Salmon

Garrett with land locked salmon, just landed.

When Garrett sliced open the large trout and looked at the pink flesh inside he realized he was not looking at the guts of a trout but a land locked salmon. The possibility of catching salmon along a river has always been for us a dream, or a nasty rumor told by some canoe guide returning from a far flung place they thought would only be reached in the imagination of the listener.

But here we were on the McPhayden River, a remote stretch of water in that region spun to us in stories, Labrador, Newfoundland. The tales were in fact true and dinner was now going to accompany land locked salmon and trout.

After our haul on the first evening on the river we filleted and fried the salmon and smoked the trout whole. Throughout the trip we refined the salmon preparation with various herb and teriyaki battering. We discovered that we enjoyed both the trout and salmon cooked in its skin, retaining the juice and allowing for a slower cook.

John, cleaning a fish by the water.

salmon fillet revealed on paddle, speckled trout is gripped securely.

from a different catch, an improvised smoker made from drift wood. John assembled it with pliable roots.

salmon is laid whole on wood above embers. coals should be hot but flame kept to a minimum.

fish is filled with pungent alder leaf and lingonberry harvested from the hill above the beach.

coals are covered with alder leaves to optimize smoke. we cooked it too fast, an hour or so.

fish is tender and flaky. it becomes finger food. verdict is still out on alder flavor.