Report from Hammond

Josh and I went to Hammond yesterday. A bit uneventful from a canvassing point of view (we basically had zero conversations), but it was great to see such energy from the Obama team. The headquarters was overwhelmed with volunteers! We were told that the precincts we canvassed would be hit 5 (!) more times before Election Day! Of course, they still can't believe that Sassy might be there on Tuesday. [UPDATE: I was just told that Sassy will be visiting Gary and not Hammond. Sorry, Hammond! Congrats, Gary!]

And the guy pictured below was part of a big group of cyclists who were preparing for a very pro-Obama tour of Lake County.

Morning Roundup

Obama picks a fantasy football team. Great article by Rick Reilly (ESPN), actually gives me more insight into Barack's personality then other things I've read.

An interesting factoid from yesterday's ABC/WaPo tracker: In those crucial states decided by five or fewer points in 2004, Obama is up 21 points.

A new SurveyUSA poll gives Barack Obama a 49%-45% in Indiana, with a ±4% margin of error, compared to a 48%-45% McCain lead from three weeks ago. The most recent three polls of this race now give Obama the lead in a state that hasn't gone Democratic since the 1964 LBJ landslide.

Sooprize, sooprize, the NYT endorses Barack Obama.

"It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.

Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility."

From a recent poll of rural areas, which George Bush won by 15 points in '04:

A poll of rural voters in battleground states shows that this critical group of voters moved toward Democrat Barack Obama during a three-week period in October.

The Center for Rural Strategies poll, commissioned on behalf of the National Rural Assembly, sampled rural voters in 13 swing states from Oct. 1-21. During these three weeks the poll found that Obama led McCain 46 to 45 percent, which is within the poll's 3.38 percent margin of error.

Democrat analyst and pollster Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research said that the poll shows erosion in Republican support among rural voters and that this is a good sign for Obama.

Sassy on Location: Southern Indiana

So, I've been criss-crossing Southern Indiana for the last couple of days for work and a visit to the parents. I have a couple general observations:

1. We all know that Willie Nelson is awesome, but you really appreciate him when he comes on the radio down here--it's a welcome break from awful country, bible thumping, or Christian rock.

2. Based on the amount of road signs, I would say this is a very politically involved area of the country. Of course, most of the signs were for McCain-Palin, but it's still good to see that folks are involved.

3. Southern Indiana is gorgeous. Seriously. Rolling hills, deep valleys, corn fields, streams, and rivers. We Chicagoans tend to only see flat, boring Northern Indiana as we drive through. The drive from Evansville to Bloomington, however, is stunning.

4. The signs in the corn fields down here are scary. AgriGold! Croplan Genetics! Seed Consultants! These are the people engineering our food. Yikes.

5. The big event in Bloomington this weekend was the Lotus World Music Festival. We saw some pretty cool stuff. And, needless to say, Obama has the world music vote locked up.