Posted on 09/26/2004 10:41:14 AM PDT by crushelits
LA CROSSE, Wis. - In 2000, political pundits summed up the race in three words: Florida, Florida, Florida. Here's three words to consider this fall: Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. President Bush (news - web sites) is targeting their combined 27 electoral votes — the same total as Florida, where a bitterly contested recount settled the last election.
The trio of upper Mississippi River states narrowly backed Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) in 2000 and are, if anything, slightly more Republican four years later, raising the possibility that Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) could lose one or two of them.
"They are states we lost last time, but if we can carry one or more of them, it puts Kerry's ability to win the Electoral College (news - web sites) in serious jeopardy," said Bush strategist Matthew Dowd.
Interviews throughout the upper Mississippi region — from a diner in Austin, Minn., to a farmer's market in Dubuque, Iowa, to a mayor's office in a Wisconsin river town — revealed a mix of emotions and an anxious mood among voters.
They are worried about the economy, though not as much as Rust Belt voters to the East, and the war in Iraq (news - web sites) is a constant source of concern — even anger. But more people approve of the president's performance than disapprove, polls show, and there is significant ambivalence toward Kerry.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
previously posted here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1227002/posts
I sent this email to the Wisconsin Republican HQ this morning. Remember, vote early and vote often.
I visited the Washington County GOP Headquarters in West Bend Friday to volunteer my time in whatever way it was needed. I was accommodated in spades.
The purpose of this correspondence is to voice my opinion to the State party of the lack of materials in the Washington County office. There were no bumper stickers for any candidate. Bush-Cheney yard signs were limited to one per visitor. The poor campaign workers were cutting a roll of stickers to offer as substitutes for bumper stickers and were limiting them to two per visitor.
There were no Tim Michaels signs, stickers or brochures. Is there a more pressing need in this state than getting rid of Russ Feingold? I don't think so....
You can't drive across town without being held up by a motorcade so the candidates know the importance of our state in this election.
How are we going to maintain our reputation of being the party of rich greedy bastards if we can't even put literature in the hands of the electorate?
I volunteered for Mark Newman's campaign against Feingold and I see some of the same problems now that I saw then. I hope the results won't be the same.
I realize that printed materials are marginal in affecting the outcome of a campaign but it encourages the "faithful" and instills doubt in the minds of the opposition. These intangibles are hard to measure.
I don't know the logistics of materials and the relationship between the state and county parties but for goodness sake if you can help these folks please do so. If you can't help but know who can, please let them know. Don't let this problem end with your reading of this email.
p.s. While I was there I filled out a petition that asked for the city and state of my military service. I didn't serve in a city or state. If they were asking for my city and state they asked for it twice on the same form. This is the kind of inattention to detail that irritates people. I am a college graduate and retired middle manager and I couldn't make any sense of the form.
My name and address.
There's another possibility, Mr. Glover...that Kerry could lose all three states.
"If I had to bet now, I'd bet we'd win all three," said Kerry adviser Tad Devine. "Now, we'll have to throw a lot at them to win, particularly Iowa and Wisconsin, but that's fine. The president is going to have to devote a lot of resources to compete for them. I'd prefer we play on our turf."
If Kerry is trying to compete in states that Gore won in 2000 (our turf), then he has no chance to win this election.
I live in another battleground state - Pennsylvania - and have had no luck either in getting print materials, ie. yard signs, bumper stickers, etc. Volunteers like myself also were hoping to get buttons for our collections, but were told by the national Rep headquarters that they can be purchased online. I don't know who is in charge of distributing all the Republican stuff this year, but they sure dropped the ball it seems. No matter, we will still fight on, but it does get discouraging seeing Kerry signs springing up in our area (Cambria and Somerset counties) and having no signs to counter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.