I’ll first premise with I know I am always a Debbie Downer on this race but this time, I’ll simply be stating the things I have noticed pertaining to this race, little opinion added.
I’ve been clipboarding for Barack Obama at my school signing up supporters. My school has 6000 students, the Obama campaign’s goal is 1200 supporters by election day. Well, we’ve clipboarding now for 10 days and have signed up about 600 already. So my school is kicking ass from what I’ve heard many schools around the state are as well.
On the side of the supporter sign-up there are some boxes to check to volunteer and other stuff and then to support Al Franken, to support the DFL House candidate, to support the DFL state house candidate.
Loads of people check off the House candidate, and the state house candidate but leave Al Franken blank. Plus, several people have outwardly made comments about they aren’t sure about Franken when they get to that part. I try to notice if someone doesn’t check it off so can I ask about Franken, it is always because they meant to leave it blank and that they are not voting for him or aren’t really that sure about him.
This is a demographic we all thought he’d win hands down, by at least Obama margins. We naturally would vote for a Democrat who was a former comedian on SNL.
What I’m gathering from on the ground is that while Franken is doing decently in the polls, that support has got to be pretty weak if you aren’t even enthusing the demographics that you should naturally have an advantage with.
Also, Franken’s win in the primary was weak in my opinion. 65%-35% is really not that great. And he was actually beaten in 4 counties in more rural Minnesota. Do you guys think this is a poor showing?
Franken is doing fine. He’s got a very strong organization. Norm is a lot easier of a sell then McCain (quite frankly beacuse many students don’t like McCain beacuse he’s a old guy) and Norm’s attack ads might be working slightly. Plus it hasn’t gotten as much news attention.
I’m feeling good about the race. The DSCC and Franken are both doing a great job of defining Coleman and making Coleman = Bush. That’s what we need to do to win.
And see Al Franken (true blue progressive) vs. Norm Coleman (Bushbot, republican hack) who do you think they’re going to vote for?
A protest vote and nothing more. A lot of people probably didn’t like the fact that Franken jumped in early, raised mountains of cash and scared off all challengers. I have a hard time believing many of them will not back Franken when push comes to shove and it’s between Franken and Coleman.