Resources and articles GOTV and voter turnout (canvassing, phone banking) can make a difference:

• FiveThirtyEight.com: On the Road: Grand Junction, Colorado
  

  So if you go out one four-hour walk shift every weekend between now and the election, you’ve generated — on average — six extra votes from people who would not otherwise have voted for your candidate.

• Is “Obama’s Bet” Worth It? – detailed summary of effectiveness of various GOTV tactics
• Yale Research: Get Out the Vote – amazing resource for research done on voter mobilization
• Daily Kos: Phone Canvassing: How effective? – a recent conversation that brings up some of the other things that come out of phone banking (like volunteers)

Oh, and of course, the Call To Action: be sure to check out Obama’s Neighbor-to-Neighbor Voter Contact Tool

I probably won’t be posting much until after November, but if I do, it’ll probably be political, not technology-related. Thought I’d capture some things links for posterity though, the first being the Memeorandum frontpage today, which pretty much sums up where the election is at.

For me, what’s horrifyingly fascinating for me to watch is how quickly and how low the McCain campaign has sunk. It’s a really strange mixed feeling, because while it’s not at all surprising that it’s being waged (it’s been pretty clear that it’s the only way McCain could really hope to win) or that it’s working (tried and true Rovian tactics) and simply accepted by the media and by the American people, it’s still profoundly disappointing. It seems that with this progression, there are no limits in sight. It’s like a complete moral void – not just an absence, but like a dark sucking black hole. And people just don’t really mind. (Of course it goes without saying that getting elected has nothing to do with effective governance, policies, or issues.)

Josh Marshall does a good job of summing it up.

But what is already apparent is that John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest and race-baiting campaign of our lifetimes. So let’s stopped being shocked and awed by every new example of it. It is undignified. What can we do? We’ve got a dangerously reckless contender for the presidency and a vice presidential candidate who distinguished her self by abuse of office even on the comparatively small political stage of Alaska. They’ve both embraced a level of dishonesty that disqualifies them for high office. Democrats owe it to the country to make clear who these people are. No apologies or excuses. If Democrats can say at the end of this campaign that they made clear exactly how and why these two are unfit for high office they can be satisfied they served their country.

I’ll go back to my refrain, that at the end of the day, this election will be decided by whether individuals choose to stand up and take action, or to do nothing.

Related:

• McCain’s Integrity, Andrew Sullivan
• Apology Not Accepted, Joe Klein
• What’s the Pig Deal?, Washington Post (unserious is an understatement)
• McCain/Palin ’08: The Lie Is The Plan
• McCain-Palin Distorts Our Finding, FactCheck.org
• Damon Condemns Palin – surprisingly cogent, seems to get it a lot more than the media coverage

The irony of working on this stuff, is that well, you’re working, so I haven’t really been keeping up on the festivities. I started streaming stuff tonight, and while there’s been a lot of good stuff (the nomination itself was particularly nice), a lot of it seems to be lacking a bit of the fire. Dennis Kucinich brings it, big time (even with a great zinger edited out):

(Hearing good things about tonight’s schedule. Hopefully I’ll catch up on that before tomorrow night…)

UPDATING w/ vid and comments…

Bill Clinton – starts a little slow, but is totally solid. A strong and cogent argument. Best line: People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

John Kerry – wow, this is great. The Senator McCain v. Candidate McCain frame is great.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? The McCain-Bush Republicans have been wrong again and again and again. And they know they will lose on the issues. So, the candidate who once promised a “contest of ideas” now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn’t put America first.

Joe Biden – the right mix of tying together the personal stories in with the economic and foreign policy.

The quality of tonight’s keynoters were far higher than from the previous nights. You can really see the themes that they’re crystallizing around – I think they form a pretty compelling argument that I hope resonates. Can’t wait to see Obama tie it all together tomorrow.

Turning, in, will be a long day tmw.

The primary hard drive on my dedicated server was about to give up the ghost and took down the site for most of the day. My machine now has a new drive which I’m currently rsyncing the old data onto the new drive (hopefully it copies over before expiring, but I did get the latest snapshot of my /www folder. I also made sure I have a recent copy of my other /var data — my backups are about 2mo old since they sync to my home machines, which are all off while I’m in Boston. So, consider this bullet dodged, and my lesson learned. I think I have a Media Temple GS account sitting around not doing much…

For those keeping track of the media (or my FriendFeed stream), this week seems to be a turning point where the McCain campaign has gone all in with the Rovian tactics.

No, it’s not a surprise. For most people, that route I think was presumed as fait accompli, no matter what was pledged otherwise. Even when you know the punch is coming, I guess, doesn’t mean it stings less. The media of course, has responded predictably (the Republicans, have without a doubt mastered that), and I think a fair number of people are wondering the exact same thing as Bookhouse:

This morning, reading this story and a few other things online, I was filled with a deep sense of dread.

This shit is going to work, isn’t it?

Even if it doesn’t, will these distractions (“politics as a game” as Obama deftly puts it) overshadow and obscure the real decision the American people will be making this November?

And that’s where my Call To Action comes in – because things are different this time. And not just as in Obama’s campaign parlance, that “the stakes are too high” (which I happen to agree with: when you look at the issues that are set upon us, in terms of civil liberties, geopolitics, the economy, energy independence, and climate change, we are facing incredible challenges that won’t wait another four years). But that this election, more than any other is no longer dominated by broadcast media, but by individuals and the Internet. From the record number of individual/online donors (some recent numbers), the people number of people that have taken the time to actually watch/listen (or to read [just launched]) about the issues, those who are activity interacting and coordinating with the MyBo tools, or the “largest field operation in the history of American politics,” — Obama’s campaign is dependent on individuals to get involved.

MyBo provides many tools in its Action Center, from phone-banking, physical events, and new tools like the just-launched Neighbor-to-Neighbor tool, which I definitely encourage you to check out… But this weekend, I’ve been thinking a fair bit about Bookhouse’s sentiments.

And the idea that popped into my head was that while most people are understandably busy with their lives, that everyone probably has at least a few friends or family members that weren’t planning to vote, or have been misled by the smears – and while it might be a bit awkward, I bet you have a better than average chance of being able to convince them otherwise, or at least in getting them to take a look at a YouTube video of a speech, or to look at things a bit differently. In the spirit of Neighbor-to-Neighbor (Friend-to-Friend?), why not strike up a conversation? It’ll probably have both of you thinking a little more about what this upcoming election means, and heck, will probably make you feel a lot better too — because (and that’s at the core of Obama’s message, isn’t it?) you’re not helpless. Just the opposite in fact – the only way that the Obama campaign has gotten as far as it has is by the support and dedication of individuals.

So what are you waiting for? Your country needs you. Do your part.

This is excluding capital gains income.

Via Brad Setser’s Blog: Inequality in America