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Approaching the Finishing Line: Hope and Passion in Nevada
By Bernard Weiner (about the author) Page 1 of 3 page(s)
For OpEdNews: Bernard Weiner - Writer
(RENO, NV.) Politics is one of the few activities that matches sports in uniting unrelated peoples in common, competitive, exciting endeavor.
That truth struck me yet again over the weekend while my sister, my eldest son and I were canvassing for Obama in Nevada.
The thousands of volunteers pouring into Nevada from California, and also those who drove down from Oregon and Idaho and elsewhere, were often quite different from each other in educational background, ethnicity, age, class, etc., yet were united in common cause. None of the distinctions mattered, just as it doesn't matter in competitive sports: What matters is playing up to one's (and the teams') potential, and trying as hard as possible to emerge the winner. And having fun while doing so.
The throngs of volunteers that converged on a warehouse in downtown Reno this weekend -- about 1500 for our orientation -- were typical. We came from all over, from varying backgrounds, even from different political agendas at times, but an inspiring vision and excitement united us: a world where "conservative" extremism would no longer rule and ruin our country, and much of the world, as has been the case for at least the past eight years under CheneyBush.
Obama, with all his flaws on this policy or that, is the embodiment of this vision, of hope for significant change -- the first real chance for winning a substantial presidential-cum-legislative victory that many of us Democrats had experienced in a long, long time.
SPARKS AND CLARK
My sister Linda and I were canvassing in Sparks, near Reno, while my eldest son Erik was working the precincts in Las Vegas. Virtually all the volunteers we met were guardedly optimistic but wary about Obama's chances in Nevada and nationwide. We'd all been badly Roved before and weren't about to start counting our chickens before the hatching on November 4th.
Clark County/Las Vegas is much more liberal than Washoe County/Sparks-Reno, which, at least the sections we canvassed, seems more working-class and conservative. But even here, Linda and I found that the number of Obama supporters were about even with those for McCain.
This near-tie mirrors the advance polls, which showed a tight race for Nevada's five electoral votes. Obama had a very slight lead going into the November 4th voting, and more Democrats had early-voted than had Republicans, a pattern that had been replicated across the country. Similarly, tens of thousands of lawyers have been enlisted in the various states, Nevada included, as part of the "voting protection" program of the Obama campaign, to be on call in each precinct to deal instantly with illegalities or voter-purging issues that might arise throughout Election Day.
A ROBBERY IN BROAD DAYLIGHT?
As I write this, the handwriting is clearly on the wall for a substantial Obama victory on November 4th. But that assumes that the Republicans, staring a likely Electoral College tsunami in the face, would back off this time from trying to steal the election yet again. Such thievery tactics as vote-tampering, the usual dirty tricks and last-minute robo-calling lies, viral-email distortions of the record, etc., would be too embarassingly obvious.
But these guys are desperate, and long ago took the low road into the moral swamp that passes for Republican politics these days. They might well feel that since they've never been punished in the past for manipulating the election results, why not just go and steal another election and let a cowed, confused public deal ex post facto with the blatant, in-your-face power-grab?
I don't think this will happen, but I wouldn't put it past them to seriously consider trying once more to take what they can get while they think they can get away with it.
MEETING ACTUAL VOTERS
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